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Stonehorn

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Everything posted by Stonehorn

  1. for general purpose X-T1 + 16 WR + 35 WR + 56 small trips and carry around X100T and for wildlife 55-200
  2. Since you already have a nice camera line up and you mentioned that you will stay with Fuji. Why do you want to keep the Sony again?! I would sell the Sony and get some more nice fuji primes instead.
  3. Keep in mind, that you already have a nice set up of lenses. You should only consider extra prime lenses if you need that extra background seperation and low light capability. At the beginning you should use your 18-55 for portraits. It's a georgous underated piece of a kit lens. Even at F4 you'll have a nice background seperation. 23mm F1.4?! Nope, you have the 10-24 already. Or do you need that extra low light capability?! 56 F1.2?! Nope, it's a portrait lens and not that versatile any more. Expensive as hell as well. You should only buy it if you are really into portraits or you have money to spend. And you mentioned that you have a nice Nikon set up for that kind of work already. 35 F1.4/F2 This would be my first prime lens suggestion for you. 35mm is still versatile and very nice for close up portrait work. The difference between F1.4 and F2.0 isn't that much. F1.4 has only a bit more blurry background. I wouldn't buy the old one anymore. I actually sold mine for the new one. The new one is a perfect fit for myX-T1. The AF is defintily faster, it's dead silent, at F2.0 it's as sharp as the F1.4 and it's smaller, cheaper and WR as well.
  4. I've been to Norway and Sweden this summer and it was raining a lot. And I mean a lot!!! I bought some WR lenses after the trip because I wasn't able to take a lot of pictures due to the heavy rain. All my friends and family thought I had sunny weather all the time. But I basically took all the shots during the narrow dry windows. It would have been nice to have some shots representing the real soaked wet feeling I had nearly all the time. I'm happy that you like your new toy I'm impressed by this little fella as well. I sold my 23mm F1.4 and picked up a 16mm F1.4 WR. So next time in Norway I'll have no excuse anymore. I don't miss the 23mm range on my X-T1 at all. But I do own the X100t as well so the range is still covered.
  5. Well and it's a beauty that we have a choice between all those lenses and can pick the right one for for us. We just can give recommendations from our experience and preferences. To choose between the 10-24 Zoom and the available Primes (12,14,16,23) there are just a few questions you should ask yourself. 1. Weathersealing is very important for you?! Yes -> Easy, go for the 16mm. No -> Well here comes another question for you... 2. Do I like to be versatile?! Yes -> Again, easy choice go for the zoom (Keep in mind if 16 is wide enough for you, you could throw the 16-55 into the equation as well. But in my opinion it's too big.) No -> It's getting a bit more difficult. 3. What kind of focal lens should I pick?! I would say it depends on the gear you already have and of course your personal preferences. Great lenses are the 12mm Walimex and of course the Fuji lineup (14,16,23). I like to scroll through the forum topics with some example pictures. You can get a feel what the lenses are capable of and if you like the look of that specific focal lenghts. This choice isn't always easy and maybe you swap one ore two lenses in that process but it is a learning experience.
  6. Hi Trevor, I asked that same question a couple of month ago myself. During that time I traveled to South Africa and Fuji lenses were way cheaper than in Europe. I do have the X100T, and the X-T1 (at that time with the 35 1.4 and 55-200). I tested all of your listed lenses at a local camera store in Capetown. In the end I took the 16 1.4 and the 56 1.2 with me. I do like wide angle pictures. A friend of mine has a 10-24 for his Nikon D90. I played with it back home as well. For landscape it's awesome but if you take group shots or portraits below 16mm people tend to get stretched heads etc. It just doesn't look natural to me. The Fuji 10-24 felt a bit bulky and I do prefere primes. That narrowed it down to the 14 and 16. The 14 felt great just like the 16 but a bit smaller. At first I thought this will be a tough choice but I took some test shot with my dad and well the 16mm pictures looked a bit more natural and wide enough for me. I am a motorbike adventure rider as well so the WR is a big plus. During my motorbike trips my gear gets often soaked by mud and rain. The F1.4 gives me a very good low light capability too. I just carry a small Gorillapod as a backup tripod but I rarely use it. Should I feel the need for a wider lens I would go for the Samyang/Walimex/Rokinon 12mm F2.0 because it's a really wide angle lens and not very expensive as well. The difference between 14 and 16 is noticeable but between 14 and 12 you really can see a huge difference I would use it for plain landscape shots though. During that trip I took awesome pictures with the 16 1.4. Basically perfect family group shots or landscape pictures with one or two family members in it. I didn't regret my choice. Hope that helps.
  7. I just received my 35 F2.0 today in Germany as well. Here is my comparison to my 35 F1.4 Build: The new one is very well build and feels solid like my other Fuji lenses like the 56 or 16. The aperture and manual focus ring feels well damped. My 1.4 is a bit less damped and I often find myself changing the aperture ring by accident. And on the 1.4 manual focusing feels a bit unnatural. On the 2.0 on the otherside everything feels a bit better. I like the new lenshood. Its tiny and screwed onto the lens. The new lenscap fits nicely. I prefer the looks of the squared metal one but the rubber cap is fiddley and falls of quickly. 2 points for the new one. IQ: To be honest both if both lenses are set to F2.0 the difference is marginal. The bokeh is a bit better on the 2.0 but you have to look closely. The same is to say about sharpness. But have in mind that the 2.0 is shot wide open! The 1.4 tend to be a bit softer wide open but it gives you that special touch a lot of people like about that beautiful lens. In my opinion there is no clear winner here. AF: The new one is pretty fast and accurate. There is no focus hunting at all. The autofocus system works nearly silent by the way. But to be honest with all the firmware updates for the 1.4 the old one is not that sluggish at all. Yeah, it's a bit noisier but for the average situation it will be fast enough. 1 point for the new one. Overall: If you haven't bought a 35 yet here are some things you should think about. The new one is not that expensive and there are some great deals for the old one so the price difference is marginal. If you have the X-T1 and need the weather resistance then the new one is a no brainer. The build quality is a bit better and don't forget that quick autofocus. You will lose 1 stop but hey F2.0 is still not that bad. IQ overall is en par. If you don't have the X-T1 and weather resistance is not important to you take a look at the 1.4. Yeah the autofocus is a bit slower and noisier but for portraits that doesn't count at all. And you will fall in love with this creamy look of the 1.4 shoot wide open. If you already have the 35 F1.4 well it depends how you use ist. You shot wide open often? Than the extra stop will make those shots a bit more beautiful. I love adventure riding with my motorbike so the weather resistance feature is perfect for my kind of photography. I do have the 16 F1.4 as well so in very low light situations I still have a great wide angle low light beast. In case of short journey without my motorbike I always carry the X100T and for family reunions my X-T1 is paired with the portrait wonder 56 F1.2. Hope this little review helps all those deciding wether to buy the new one or not.
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